Shinnecock Prepares for British-Inspired Music Festival

People from Zink, the fashion magazine, dropped by last week. Their threefold purpose was to stage a hot trends fashion shoot, reveal some Native American styles and promote , a three-day British-inspired extravaganza set to take place on Shinnecock Powwow Grounds August 5 through 7.

Escape to New York, we are told, is based on The Secret Garden Party UK, supposedly Britain’s most eccentric and lauded festival. We’ll just have to experience it and to garner our own opinions, draw our own conclusions and make our judgments.

In the meantime, the Zink folks, all volunteers, swept in with professional models, male and female, makeup and wardrobe specialists, hair stylists, directors, lights, cameras and a number of other unidentifiable whatnots and set up headquarters in the tribal community center.  

We caught up with them later on the sandy bluff at Westwoods, tribal lands overlooking Peconic Bay. In addition to some of Long Island’s most spectacular background scenery, Shinnecock provided Native American styles. Enter college bound Cholena Smith, who dressed for the occasion in her traditional buckskin outfit, and soon-to-be teenager Mehquantash Evans, who chose to wear her satin Jingle Dance dress.

Our ladies looked smashing, and we can hardly wait to see them in the Zink summer issue.

The Escape to New York festival is expected to draw 5,000 people per day to the reservation. Live music is on the docket, but “who” will be playing or singing “what” has not been announced by festival promoters.  

Also lined up are interactive art installations, experimental theater, foods from around the globe, and what the festival promoters are billing as “the world’s largest brunch,” an outdoor table that can seat 1,000 people. The promoters say they are attempting to break a Guinness Record for having the largest brunch ever at a live event. Slots are also open for a number of Shinnecock chefs, artists and craftspeople. Plus, there will be a safe play area for children. Then there’s the “glamping,” glamorous camping, probably to includes facials, pedicures, manicures, waxes and massaging — all to take place somewhere nearby and off tribal lands.

The promoters say we should expect the unexpected and imagine the unimaginable.

We can’t wait to see how this plays out, either. More information on the festival is available at www.escape2ny.com.

As soon as the festival is over, we immediately shift into high gear preparations for the 65th Annual Powwow, on Labor Day weekend, where we know pretty much what to expect, just as long as it doesn’t rain.